President Uhuru Kenyatta has mourned former Cabinet Minister Wilson Ndolo Ayah, who died on Wednesday at Aga Khan Hospital aged 84.

President Kenyatta described Ayah as a dedicated leader who served the country diligently as a legislator and as a minister.

“To everyone who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him, Ayah was well respected as a humble, kind and courageous man who had a singular sense of duty to his family, his community and the nation,” he said.

The President added: “In this hour of sorrow, I convey my sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family, relatives and friends.”

GREAT SORROW

Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi also sent a message of condolence to the family of the late Cabinet minister, saying that he had learnt of the death with great sorrow.

“I served with Ayah in the Cabinet of from 1989 to1993 when he left as Kenya’s Foreign Affairs minister after serving earlier from 1987 as Minister for Research Science and Technology,” said Mr Mudavadi.

He went on: “As a colleague, Ayah was very meticulous about government affairs by never letting a detail escape him. That is why—as Minister for Transport and Communications – I was very fortunate and comfortable working with him as the as the first chairman of Safaricom Ltd, a start-up company in which the government held shares and now the largest publicly-owned company in East Africa.”

The ANC leader said the legacy the late Ayah has left behind for leaders to emulate is that they should not be fastidious about things of the good life.

“As foreign minister between 1990 and 1993, he steered Kenya's international image through the turbulence of the return to a multi-party system of governance,” said Mr Mudavadi in a statement